The present invention generally relates to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to lateral current injection electro-optical devices and silicon photonic chips including such devices.
The integration of III-V semiconductor gain materials (e.g., for light sources emitting at datacom and/or telecom wavelengths) in silicon photonics platforms may allow obtaining high bandwidth optical interconnects. For example, a III-V, lateral current injection (LCI) laser source is particularly attractive, due to the small threshold current and footprint it involves and the integration possibilities it offers. The thinner stack height of LCI lasers may enable their integration in smaller nodes, unlike their vertical current injection counterparts. Specifically, several types of III-V stacks (for laser, detection or amplification purposes) may be integrated in photonics platforms.